Panthers? Broncos? We are guaranteed to be cheering on Superbowl Sunday when jalapeño, garlic, sour cream, and meatballs take their rightful place on the field. I mean, the table.

It’s time to get serious. About food. BECAUSE–the Super Bowl is happening this Sunday!! However you define your relationship to football, or sports in general, we get ridiculously excited at Forq when it’s Super Bowl time. Why? Because the food opportunities are So. Damn. Good.

Of course, downing several pints of beer and ordering in pizza works for most Sunday games, and it *can* work here (maybe serving Uncommon Brewers for the Big Game rather than Budweiser or Corona — you know, dress it up, keep it classy), but we think this most-watched, much-hyped media event calls for some extra effort and creativity in the kitchen. There’s no doubt that Americans are focused on food this week: Americans spend more on groceries (and on calories) during Super Bowl week than any other week of the year, including Thanksgiving. An estimated 1.2 billion chicken wings, 28 million pounds of chips, and 48 million pizzas are eaten. And if you count up the number of calories present in an average American household during the Super Bowl, it comes to 6,000. Daaayum.

I am absolutely not worried about calories for this event. We have certain times of the year where it’s all about the food — balance is for weekdays and January. Thankfully, we just crossed over into February, and the game is on a Sunday. Done. But, in all seriousness, I do think all the food that we’ll eat can be better enjoyed coming from recipes that are thoughtful, appealing, a little outrageous, and somewhat more unexpected than a tub of KFC. Go Big or Go Home: and cook. That’s how I think about it. And so we are celebrating an American institution with abandon. The recipes we’ve gathered from around the web are, in our opinion, jaw dropping. And that just leaves us in a ready position for eating. Which we’ll be doing. Next. When does the game start? Not soon enough. Because this food is amazing!

Try these recipes out, and better yet – upload for your own meal plans to Forq! We’ve got a huge and growing community of foodies you can inspire, and by inspired by, when it comes to gametime food. Broncos or Panthers — Go FOODIES!! Why? Because with amazing food, everyone wins. Enjoy the game, and share your snackshots on Forq!

In a large bowl, combine the panko and milk. Let stand for 10 minutes, then add the veal, beef, pork, shallots, garlic, thyme, parsley, cheeses, eggs, salt, and pepper. Use your hands to mix and incorporate well.

Make a tester patty to taste for seasoning. This is a must! Simply sear a small amount of the meat, taste it, and adjust the seasoning in the rest of the mix as needed before you make the meatballs.

Take a small amount of the meat mixture in your hand — about ¼ cup or 3 ounces — and round it into a meatball that’s about 3 inches wide. Place it on a baking sheet and continue to make the rest of the meatballs until you have used all of the meat mixture.

In a large sauté pan over high heat, heat enough olive oil to thoroughly coat the entire bottom of the pan (it should come about ¼ inch up the sides of the pan). In a separate saucepan, bring the marinara sauce to a simmer.

When the oil is hot and rippling, carefully fill the pan with as many meatballs as you can without overcrowding it. You have to work in batches so that the pan stays hot enough to really sear them. Turn the meatballs as you sear them, to ensure that they develop a nice brown caramelization on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes total.

As they’re finished searing, place the meatballs directly into the simmering marinara.

Cook the meatballs in the marinara for about 45 minutes, then serve with pasta.

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

¼ teaspoon chili flakes

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup white wine

2 (28-ounce) cans whole plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 fresh basil leaves

½ tablespoon dried oregano

Instructions:

In a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, sauté the onion, garlic, and chili flakes in the olive oil until translucent and fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add the white wine and cook until the liquid has reduced by half.

Add the plum tomatoes and their juices, the salt, basil leaves, and oregano and stir well.

Use a potato masher, whisk, or hand blender to break down the tomatoes. Cook, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, or until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon.

Prepare a two-stage fire with hot and medium sides in a grill (see note below).

Brush the onion slices on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the onion slices over the medium side of the fire and grill, turning once, until lightly charred and softened, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the peppers on the hot side and grill, turning occasionally, until blistered and charred all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer the peppers and onions to a cutting board and let cool slightly.

Cut the onion slices into quarters and transfer to a medium bowl. Peel the peppers (it’s OK—even preferable—to leave some of the charred skin attached) and discard the cores, seeds, and ribs. Cut thepeppers into long ½-inch-wide strips and add them to the bowl with the onions. Add the oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and toss well.

Cook the sausages on the hot side of the grill, turning them every couple of minutes, until browned all over and cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160°F), about 8 minutes. If the sausages brown too quickly, move them to the medium side of the grill.

NOTE: for two-stage fire, start charcoal and let burn until coals are glowing red and coated in gray ash, about 15 minutes. You can create two heat zones by adding different amounts of coals to each side of the grill (or leaving one half of the grill coal-free to create a cool side). For a hot zone, build a layer about two coals deep; for medium, one coal deep; for low, scatter a few coals evenly over that side; and for cool, use no coals at all.

Buffalo-Ranch Alfredo Pasta

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 box pasta

1 stick butter

¼ c hot sauce

1 package cream cheese (8 ounces)

1 ¼ c milk

½ packet ranch seasoning mix

Instructions:

Cook pasta according to the package’s instructions, drain and set aside.

As the pasta cooks, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the hot sauce, stirring occasionally, then add the cream cheese. Use a wooden spoon to break up the cream cheese a bit, then whisk the mixture together until creamy, slowly adding in the milk as you go.

Sprinkle in half of the packet of Ranch seasoning, stirring it in until fully combined. Toss the sauce with pasta, and top with crumbled blue cheese and diced jalapenños (optional). Serve.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken with the grated zucchini, onion, carrot, breadcrumbs, egg, and a generous pinch of salt and freshly cracked pepper. Fold together until combine. With dampened hands, form into 6 patties, and arrange on a parchment lined sheet tray.

On a lightly oiled griddle or nonstick pan over medium-high heat, cook the patties for 6 to 8 minutes per side, until cooked through. Place cheese slices, if desired, on the patties after flipping, so that they melt.

Grownup Root Beer Float

Ingredients:

3 scoops vanilla ice cream

1 ½ oz spiced rum

root beer, to top off

Instructions:

In a chilled glass, add the ice cream and then pour in the shot of rum. Top off with root beer and enjoy.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Mix in vanilla extract.

Add flour and mix until well combined. Dough will be thick. Add 1-2 tbsp of water, if needed to help the dough come together.

Stir in mini chocolate chips.

Shape balls of cookie dough about one tablespoon in size into footballs, then place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Refrigerate balls for about 30 minutes, or until firm.

Melt chocolate candiquick in a bowl until smooth.

Using a toothpick (or the fork method mentioned above) dip the footballs into the melted chocolate, then tap to remove excess.

Place balls back onto parchment lined cookie sheet to harden.

Once the balls are dry, melt the vanilla candiquick.

Pipe the vanilla candiquick onto the footballs to create the strings. Allow to dry.

Panthers? Broncos? We are guaranteed to be cheering on Superbowl Sunday when jalapeño, garlic, sour cream, and meatballs take their rightful place on the field. I mean, the table. February 5th, 2016Jennifer

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